Friday, April 27, 2012

This is a copy of IHMS's weekly news article "Lion's Roar" that appeared in The Western Star newspaper on Friday, April 27, 2012.

By: Vanessa Ford, Douglas MacKenzie, Brooklynn Companion

Immaculate Heart of Mary held an in-school Heritage Fair last
Thursday for students from grades 4 through 7. Participants, (L-R):
Alex Williams, Gina Spencer, Olivia Park, and Maria Reynolds will be advancing
to the Western Regional Heritage Fair at G.C. Rowe Junior High School on
Saturday, May 5

It has been a very busy and exciting week here at Immaculate
Heart of Mary School! On Monday, we kicked off our week with Earth Day
celebrations in honor of Earth Day, Sunday, April 22. We have also been doing
many other activities this week to protect our environment as our school is
registered with “Pitch-In Canada” and this year’s theme is “Clean Sweep”. Some
activities have included writing Earth Day resolutions and poetry, playing
Earth Day Jeopardy, creating a robot out of lunch litter, and having a “Litterless
Lunch Day” at our school.

On Tuesday evening, our school held its first annual
Junior High Speak-Off. We would like to applaud our Junior High Students who participated,
namely: Kennedi Boland, Abby Companion, Patrick Davis, Sarah Keeping, Zubia
Mahmood, Claire Reynolds, and Jenna Yetman. We also want to extend our
congratulations and appreciation to Melissa Castillo, who was a guest
presenter.We extend a big
congratulation to Claire Reynolds, who was the overall winner of the
Speak-Off.We want to give our sincere
thanks to our judges: Ms. Bernice Hillier and Mr. Pat Duke. We also want to
thank Mrs. McHugh and Mrs. McCarthy for preparing the students for this special
event.

On Wednesday, our Enrichment students went to Colemans at
the Gardens to produce their video on “Work Health and Safety”. We would like
to thank Colemans for providing our students with this great opportunity.Also on Wednesday, some of our students
participated in the Virtual Media Festival Screening at our school.The students who participated in this event
were: Abby Companion and Bethany Whelan (Spirit Video), Kennedi Boland and
Jenna Yetman (Enviro Video), William Goodridge (Enviro Photo), Aaron Hancock
(Enviro Photo), and Nicole Keeping (Enviro Photo).They did a terrific job and we thoroughly
enjoyed watching their Skype Interviews.

On Thursday, Ms. Bennett and Mrs. King left for Québec City
with a group of students from Grade 4 to Level I. We are glad they have the
opportunity to experience “la Joie de vivre à Québec!”.

Stars of the Week

We would like to congratulate our Grade 4 to Grade 7
students who did a fantastic job with their Heritage Fair Projects.
Congratulations to Olivia Park, Maria Reynolds, Gina Spencer, and Alex
Williams, who will represent our school at the Western Regional Heritage Fair
on May 5th.We wish these
students all the best! We would like to thank our judges: Mr. Charles Cameron,
Miss Lindsay George, and Mr. Jerome Jesseau. Also, we want to extend a thank
you to Ms. Dwyer, Ms. Morrall, and Ms. Park for the work they put in organizing
the fair.We give our sincere thanks to
our families who came for the viewing of this special event.

Congratulations to Jenna Cammie, who won our Recycling
Contest.

Congratulations to Claire Reynolds, who won our first annual
Junior High Speak-Off.

From The Classrooms

The junior kindergartens are having Orientation for new
Kindergarten students on Tuesday, May 1st from 1p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
They have been busy with Mother’s Day Activities and preparing for the Science
Fair.

Ms. Wight’s kindergarten French Immersion class is busy with
lots of Earth Day activities this week. They are learning new French words that
start with the letter “S”.

On Earth Day, Ms. Dwyer’s kindergarten class made a robot
picture out of all the garbage that they had collected. They also made Earth
Day Resolutions and did some spring crosswords. The kindergarten students are
so excited that they won the recycling contest and they chose swimming as their
prize.

Ms. Morrall’s kindergarten class is learning about diagrams
in Language class, and this week, their diagram is “ch”. They are also having
lots of fun doing Earth Day activities. Abigail, Max, and Andrew will have more
tooth fairy visits as they are losing teeth “left, right, and center”.

Ms. Perez-Diaz’s grade one French Immersion class is talking
about how maple syrup is made and they are also watching their plants grow. As
well, the students are doing an author study on Robert Munsch.

Mrs. George’s grade one English class is talking about all
the ways you can take care of the earth and they are planting seeds. They also
had a visit from the Nurse who spoke about caring for our teeth.

Ms. Park’s grade two class is learning about dinosaurs. For
Earth Day, they made robots using leftovers, such as scrap material.

Ms. Bennett’s grade three and four class celebrated Earth
Day by playing a game of “Eco-Jeopardy”! Some of the questions were tricky, but
the class sure learned a lot about climate change, wildlife, energy, water, and
land use!The students had a Social
Studies test on Wednesday. They are excited about their upcoming Wildlife field
trip next week!

Ms. Williams’ grade five and six class is busy working on
writing essays. The grade five students are writing about what person or
charity they would give to if they had one hundred dollars. The grade six
students are preparing essays for the grade six “Mayor For A Day” contest.In this contest, students will write to our
Mayor, Neville Greeley, telling him what they would do if they were given the
opportunity to be Mayor of Corner Brook.

Mr. Hancock’s junior high and level one class went to the
Speak-Off on Tuesday and is now filming in Enrichment.

Coming Up

Next Monday, April 30, we will celebrate “International
Dance Day”. Bernice Winsor from the Y.M.C.A. will be doing a dance activity
with all students and staff. Monday is also casual day, and our casual day
money will be donated to one of our former students, Hailey Kawaja, who will
travel to Africa this summer to work on an HIV project in a Health Center.

On Tuesday, we will be welcoming a new group of junior
kindergarten students for an orientation session. There will also be an
orientation session for kindergarten (English and French Immersion) as well as
an orientation for grade one (English and French Immersion). On Tuesday evening
at 7:00 p.m. at All Hallow’s Church, our grade 3 students will be participating
in the “First Reconciliation Celebration”.

Grades kindergarten to grade 6 classes will attend the
“National Wildlife Exhibit” at the Pepsi Center on Wednesday.On Wednesday morning, Kindergarten Graduation
pictures will be taken.

In lieu of mass on Friday morning, we will celebrate the May
Crowning at the All Hallow’s Church.Also, on Friday, the school will hold a Science Fair for grades
kindergarten to 6. Parent viewing for the fair will be from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30
p.m. that day.

The Western Regional Heritage Fair will take place on
Saturday at G.C. Rowe Junior High School.

Friday, April 20, 2012

This is a copy of IHMS's weekly news article "Lion's Roar" that appeared in The Western Star newspaper on Friday, April 20, 2012.

By: Maria Reynolds, Hannah Sparkes, Bruce Patey, Kiya Morrissey

WW2 and Korean War Veteran Mr. Frank Dyke speaking with students as
part of the Memory Speakers Bureau. Mr. Dyke spoke to the
students about his involvement in several major battles. Mr. Frank Dyke with
(L-R): Bethany Whelan, Maria Reynolds, Alex Williams, Brooklynn Companion and
Jenna Yetman

We would like to welcome everyone back from Easter
break.We hope you had a great
holiday!This week is volunteer week at
our school.We would like to thank our
volunteers for their time and commitment to our school.We want to wish them all a “Happy Volunteer
Week”!We also extend sympathies to Mrs.
Margaret Farrell, one of our valuable and dedicated volunteers, on the loss of
her husband, Dr. Tom Farrell.Our
thoughts and prayers are with Mrs. Farrell and the family.

We had a busy and exciting week after our Easter break!On Tuesday, we hosted our “Favorite Activity
Day”.Students and staff were dressed up
for a wide variety of their favorite activities ranging from beach attire to
basketball uniforms.We would like to
thank Miss Morrall’s class for suggesting this wonderful theme!

We said goodbye to Mrs. McCarthy on Tuesday as she begins
her maternity leave.We give our best
wishes to her and her husband, Bryan, as they anxiously await the arrival of
their baby girl in May!We can’t wait
until you come back, Mrs. McCarthy!

We would like to extend an I.H.M.S. welcome to Ms. Krista
Williams, who will be filling in for Mrs. McCarthy while she is away.

On Wednesday afternoon, we hosted our D.A.R.E. Graduation
for the grade 5/6 class.Congratulations
to everyone!Maria Reynolds won the
D.A.R.E. Essay Award. Hannah Sparkes won the D.A.R.E. Penmanship Award.The D.A.R.E. mascot, Daren the D.A.R.E. lion,
was won by Vanessa Ford. Keagan Sheppard accepted the School Certificate.
Hailey Colbourne presented a certificate of thanks to V.O.C.M. cares, and
Douglas Mackenzie closed the ceremony by thanking everyone. We want to extend
our thanks to our special guest speakers, Inspector Terry Corbin with the
R.N.C., and Mr. Stan Kruchka, our community sponsor with V.O.C.M. Cares
Foundation. We also want to give a special thank you to Constable Bursey for
teaching the D.A.R.E. program.

On Wednesday evening, we hosted a Parent Information Session
for parents who will have their child enrolled in Junior Kindergarten for full
day English or full day French Immersion Kindergarten Program for September
2012.If you missed that session, please
feel free to contact the office for further information regarding any
registration requirements.

On Thursday, grades 4 to 7 participated in the Heritage
Fair.Congratulations to everyone for
their great projects!We want to thank Mr.
Charles Cameron, Mr. Jerome Jesseau, and Ms. Lindsay George, who were judges
for the fair.We also want to thank Ms.
Park and Ms. Morrall for organizing the fair.We give our sincere thanks to parents for having attended this special
event.

Stars of the Week

Over the Easter holidays, Caylie Blake participated in a
figure skating seminar in St. John’s.Caylie also participated in a seminar in Corner Brook along with Kennedi
Boland, Olivia Park, and Bethany Whelan.

Congratulations to Makayla Ianni, who was a winner in the
Corner Brook Plaza’s 2012 Easter Coloring Contest.

From The Classrooms

The junior kindergartens are learning about recycling and
what materials they can recycle. They are also learning how to make kites and
necklaces.

Ms. Wight’s kindergarten French Immersion class had a GREAT
Easter break!They’re now back to
school, ready again to start learning more French!They are learning new French words that start
with the letter “R” and their five new sight words for the week.

Ms. Dwyer’s kindergarten class is doing their last letter,
“Z”, in their printing workbooks.They
are making some wooden book marks as well as doing lots of other spring
activities.They are learning about the
water cycle and are having fun with adding as well.

Ms. Morrall’s kindergarten class is excited to see that the
spring weather has arrived!They are
learning about 3D shapes in Math and the letter “Z” in Language.The class wants to thank Adam’s daddy, Jeff,
“Tic-Tac”, for taking the time off to teach them about beavers.

Ms. Perez-Diaz’s grade one French Immersion class is
learning about 3D geometric solids in Math.They planted tomato seeds on Monday, and they are ready to record the
growth in Science.They are also drawing
portraits in Art and are learning about vegetables.

Mrs. George’s Grade one English class is learning about
sorting and copying 3-D objects in Math.In Religion class, they are celebrating the new life in Easter and in
Nature.

Ms. Park’s grade two class is writing letters to their
pen-pals in Winnipeg.They are going to
learn how to write 2-digit numbers.

Ms. Bennett’s grade three and four class is excited to be
back from Easter break. The grade 4’s participated in the Heritage Fair on
Thursday. The grades three’s are starting measurement in math.

Ms. Williams’ grade five and six class had their DARE
graduation on Wednesday. They celebrated “Favourite Activity Day” and brought
in their favourite collections to share with the class. On Thursday the
students participated in the school Heritage Fair.

Mr. Hancock’s junior high and level one class is busy
working on their speeches for the junior high speak off next Tuesday. They are
excited about the Québec trip at the end of this month.

Coming Up

Next Monday, April 23, our school will be celebrating Earth Day.

On Tuesday, April 24, our school will be hosting the Junior
High Speak Off at 7:00 p.m. in the School Library.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

This is a copy of IHMS's weekly news article "Lion's Roar" that appeared in The Western Star newspaper on Thursday, April 5, 2012.

By: Hailey Colbourne, Katerina Hamann, Keagan Sheppard, Olivia Park

Grade 2 class
visit to the SPCA. (L-R): Darcy Brake and Ryan Murphy cuddle with a cat during
their visit to the SPCA. Ms. Park's grade 2 class collected items over the past
few weeks for the animals at the SPCA.

This week is Holy week. Our school closes for
Easter Break on Thursday at 2:50 pm. There is no afterschool program.

Last Thursday night our drama group performed
“The Monsters Under the Bed” at the Regional Drama Festival. It was a great
show!

Last week we had a casual day in aid of the
breakfast program. We raised a total of $300.00!

On Tuesday night we held our 11th
annual Elementary School Speak Off. Thank you to all the students, parents and
teachers who attended. It was a great night. Thank you to our judges Ms. Sherry
Rumbolt and Mr. Paul Quigley. Also, special thanks to Mr. McWhriter, Mr.
Hiscock, Mrs. King and Mrs. McCarthy for organizing the event.

Also on Tuesday we celebrated the Passion at
All Hallows with Mrs. Coleman, the prayer group and special volunteers Caitlyn
Davis and Edmund Walsh.

The grade 5/6 intern, Mr. Peter Hiscock,
finished his internship at our school this week. We wish him all the best from
our IHMS family.

Mrs. George’s class and Ms. Park’s class went
on a nutritional tour at Colemans on Humber Road this week.

The Top Your Total Campaign is completed. Thank
you to all students, families and community members who supported our contest.

This month is national Poetry month.

Stars of the Week

Congratulations to our school who received a TD
Friends of the Environment Foundation grant for $1,760.00 for our IHMS Keen on
Green –Greenhouse project.

The junior kindergarten classes had a party on
Thursday for Easter. They had fun doing an Easter egg hunt. They are busy
getting ready for spring.

Mlle. Wight’s Kindergarten French Immersion
class is doing all kinds of Easter crafts. They are very excited for their
Easter party and Easter break. Happy Easter everyone!

Ms. Morrall’s Kindergarten English class had a
spectacular week learning about Easter. They made stained glass eggs with
balloons and had an Easter party on Wednesday. Have a safe and happy Easter
everyone.

Ms. Dwyer’s Kindergarten English class is learning
all about the letter “z” and are very excited for Easter break and making Easter
crafts.

Mme. Perez-Diaz’s grade one French Immersion
class is learning about Easter in religion. They are having fun doing Easter
crafts and Easter words. In math they are doing skip counting by two’s, five’s,
and ten’s.

Mrs.
George’s grade one English class is learning about Easter in religion. They are
learning how materials are used and they have a new class pet. Their pet is a
fish named Blueberry.

Ms. Park’s grade two class is learning and
writing about the symbols of Easter. They visited the SPCA to drop off items
they collected for the animals. They got to see many cats and dogs and learned
about the importance of the SPCA and what they do. They would like to thank all
the students and families for their generous donations. Also thank you to Mrs.
Sheppard and Mrs. Vandeheide for driving the students to the SPCA and to Mrs.
Francis Drover for a wonderful tour.

Ms. Bennett’s grade three and four class is getting
ready for Easter break. They would like to congratulate Keely, Gina and Clara
for an excellent job at the Elementary Speak Off on Tuesday night. In social
studies they are learning about the earth’s physical features and in French
they are learning about families.

Mrs. McCarthy’s grade five and six class is learning
about angles in math and perimeter and volume. They presented their DARE essays
to Constable Bursey on Wednesday morning. Their DARE graduation is on April 18th.
In French they are doing a café.

Mr. Hancock’s junior high and level 1 class had
a great time at the Regional Drama festival. They would like to thank Ms.
Sherra Lee Robinson and her committee of teachers and students for a great
weekend and for making them feel so welcome. Thank you to Mrs. Reynolds and Mr.
Whelan for driving them to workshops and to Mr. David Gillard, Mr. Bruce
Gillard and Mr. Al McWhriter for working on the set. Also thank you to Ms.
Morrall for all her help and directors Mr. Taaffe and Mrs. McCarthy. The
students all received participation certificates for performing in the
festival.The class went downhill skiing
on Wednesday for Enrichment.